The present invention relates to a building, and in particular to an exterior or interior wall of a building.
Exterior walls of buildings protect the outside of the building from the elements and prevents rain and other precipitation from entering the building. The exterior walls of buildings also provide insulation from the temperatures of the outside air. Furthermore, exterior walls of a building can provide an aesthetically pleasing appearance.
Heretofore, exterior walls of buildings have been designed using panels that are located about an exterior facing of the buildings and are typically sealed to the exterior facing and to each other using a sealant or gaskets. However, the sealant and gaskets can sometimes fail, thereby reducing the efficiency of the wall panels. Furthermore, adding the sealant and gaskets can be very time consuming, thereby adding expensive labor costs to the construction of the buildings. One attempt to a solution to the above problems is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,636,489 to Leverrier et al. The wall panels as disclosed by Leverrier et al. include a groove along the top of the panels for accepting a flange extending from the bottom of a panel positioned thereabove. The wall panels are connected to the exterior facing by placing fasteners only through the top of the wall panels. However, the wall panels as disclosed by Leverrier et al. are made of polyester, which sometimes does not have a long lifespan when exposed to harsh environments. Additionally, the wall panels as disclosed by Leverrier et al. can sometimes be loosely connected to adjacent wall panels at the bottom of the wall panels because the movement of the flange extending from the bottom of the wall panel in its associated groove. Furthermore, since a portion of the wall panels extend over a portion of the wall panels placed therebelow, the wall panels are sometimes not all located on a single plane, thereby providing an aesthetically displeasing appearance.
Accordingly, wall panels solving the aforementioned disadvantages and having the aforementioned advantages is desired.
The wall panels of the present invention can easily be connected to a supporting structure without sealants or gaskets. In a first aspect of the present invention, the wall panels include a resilient projection pressing against a matching projection of a second wall panel to rigidly connect the wall panel to the second wall panel when the wall panel and the second wall panel are fixed to a supporting framework. In a second aspect of the present invention, wall panels include a pair of side flanges that taper upward to allow each of the wall panels to be parallel with other wall panels. In a third aspect of the present invention, the wall panel is made from one of aluminum, stainless steel, zinc or copper.
These and other features, advantages, and objects of the present invention will be further understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art by reference to the following specification, claims and appended drawings.